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The symbol of Stockholm

The City Hall is probably Stockholm’s most photographed building. The building is especially photogenic during sunset when the silhouette stands out against the pink sky. The City Hall is filled with precious tapestries, paintings, gold-plated chandeliers and brass doors. Visitors are welcome throughout the year, however in December, the building hosts the lavish Nobel Banquet only for special guests.

The Queen of Lake Mälaren

Stockholm’s City Hall is first and foremost a working city hall with 200 offices for civil servants and a Council Chamber. But the Council Chamber is hardly your run-of-the-mill meeting room: furnished with wood, wonderful wall decorations and exposed beams, the space resembles a Viking longhouse where the tribal leaders used to gather. Other City Hall highlights include the largest organ in Northern Europe with 10,000 pipes in the Blue Hall, and the Golden Hall’s huge mosaic of the ‘Queen of Lake Mälaren' (Stockholm’s old nickname). Climb to the top of the 106-metre-high tower – crowned by the Golden Tre Kronor, Sweden’s heraldic symbol – for a spectacular view of Stockholm’s 14 islands.

Stadshuskällaren: every Nobel menu since 1901

Marie Curie started dinner with turtle broth, Winston Churchill feasted on venison roast with mashed chestnuts, and Pablo Neruda polished off a soufflé glacé dessert with Grand Marnier. The chef who prepares the annual Nobel banquet for 1,300 guests works in the Stadshuskällaren restaurant. Here you can sample something from every Nobel menu since 1901 and everything is served on official Nobel tableware. The restaurant in the vaulted cellar underneath the City Hall also prepares classic Swedish dishes with a contemporary twist.

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Ski holidays

Arts & Culture

Family fun

Ski holidays

The Swedes are among the most enthusiastic skiers in the world and the country has already produced many world champions. Sweden boasts around 200 ski regions, from the south (even within the city of Stockholm) all the way to above the Arctic Circle. Most ski resorts are equipped to accommodate skiers, snowboarders and cross-country skiers. One thing is certain: there will be snow, lots and lots of snow.

Ski holidays

Long evenings on a warm reindeer hide by the cracking fireplace and the magical Northern Lights shimmering in the polar night sky: the Swedish winter really does have its advantages. And another asset is that snow is one hundred percent guaranteed. The first snowflakes fall in October and by February, when the country enjoys its annual ‘Sportlov’ or winter holiday, the Swedes flock en masse to the slopes. The lucky residents of Stockholm don’t even have to leave town.

Arts & Culture

What the ring of canals is for Amsterdam, Gamla Stan is for Stockholm: elegant and splendid, with colourful merchant’s homes, lovely squares and a majestic royal palace. Looking out from the rooftop, it is easy to see why Amsterdam is no match for Stockholm as the ‘Venice of the North’: this is genuinely a city on the water.

Family fun

A relaxing boat ride from Stockholm takes you to the best preserved Viking town in Scandinavia, located on the little island of Björkö in Lake Mälaren. Part of what makes Birka so fascinating are the ruins and vast cemetery, not to mention the countless activities for children, from archery to sailing in a Viking boat.

Arts & Culture

In Sweden, museums are anything but boring and stuffy. The Nobel Museum, for example, is small but delightful, and surprisingly high-tech. The Museum of Modern Art not only has Bacons and Warhols on display but also progressive video art; and the Vasa Museum uses modern techniques to portray life on a medieval Viking ship. These are 3 top Stockholm museums in a nutshell.

Arts & Culture

Stockholm has produced a number of famous sons and daughters, from filmmaker Ingmar Bergman to writer Astrid Lindgren and ABBA’s Benny Andersson. But Alfred Nobel, August Strindberg and Greta Garbo continue to be the most famous of all. They acquired their fame during their own genres and eras, but all left their mark on the Swedish capital – enough for an entertaining day of sightseeing.

Family fun

Djurgården island once served as the hunting grounds of the Swedish kings. Today, the island is still owned by the king, but he has been considerate enough to convert it into a national recreational island with a number of top attractions, from the Gröna Lund amusement park to the Skansen open-air museum and Astrid Lindgren’s Junibacken (‘Pippi Longstocking Land’).